Former IPS officer alleges land grab by Pawar, family

October 19, 2012
Former_IPS

Mumbai, October 19: Former IPS officer turned lawyer cum activist Y P Singh, on Thursday, launched a frontal attack on Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, his daughter Supriya Sule and nephew Ajit Pawar, charging them of usurping hills near Pune at dirt-cheap price to construct ultra-swanky Lavasa township.

In a packed press conference, Singh presented documents to substantiate his allegations interspersed with caustic remarks against India Against Corruption (IAC) key member Arvind Kejriwal, whom he subtly compared with 'German dictator Adolf Hitler.'

However, at the outset, Singh clarified that the conference was not called 'to attack Kejriwal but to expose an important scam involving Pawar family in the construction of Lavasa spread over 3,000 acres and reportedly involving an investment of Rs 3,000 crore.

Brandishing documents procured through RTI, Singh said that scrutiny of papers reveal that former Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, under the guise of irrigation project, first allotted 341 acres of land to real estate firm 'at throwaway prices,' on 30 years’ lease for just Rs 23,000 a month.

“And who were the beneficiaries? The beneficiaries were Ajit Pawar's cousin and Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule and her husband Sadanand Sule... 20.81 per cent shares belonged to Supriya and Sadanand in Lake City Corp formed to construct Lavasa....which means Supriya had at least 10.4 per cent shares...and Ajit Pawar had given this land almost free to the company... All this in the name of irrigation project.”

Singh, who has been waging a legal battle for activists, including Medha Patkar, against the construction of Lavasa township for the past several years, traced the history of the controversial manicured hill-township, alleging that in 2002 the then Principal Secretary of the Revenue Department Ramesh Kumar (IAS) had questioned the transaction, demanding an inquiry into the matter. Strangely, the then Revenue Minister Narayan Rane, after tom-tomming about the inquiry in public quietly buried the case.

“In 2006, Supriya and Sadanand sold their stake in the company which later became Lavasa Corporation and in 2009 when Supriya had to declare her assets as a Member of Parliament, she informed that she was worth Rs 15 crore...this figure cannot be correct as Axis Bank in its evaluation of Lavasa Corporation had pegged its value at Rs 10,000 crore which would mean her 10 per cent and her husband's 10 per cent would be probably worth several hundred crores...and if this is true then it reeks of a huge money-laundering exercise,' Singh argued.

Singh pointed out: “...there are several things we have uncovered recently. In 2009, Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar met senior bureaucrats at a guesthouse within Lavasa township. And our information indicates that the Lavasa Corporation was allowed to add floors to the buildings by granting them extra FSI (floor space index.) The question here is under what jurisdiction Union Agriculture Minister met state bureaucrats?

“Thereafter, Sharad Pawar along with his nephew Ajit met the then Chief Minister along with some bureaucrats, wherein it was decided to grant Lavasa a global floating FSI...and Ajit was the irrigation minister at the time. And despite my providing all these facts to Kejriwal...he has not bothered to highlight them and, thus, this press conference,” he said


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News Network
July 25,2020

Bhopal, Jul 25: Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Saturday he has tested positive for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

Chouhan made the announcement in a series of tweets.

“My dear countrymen, I had symptoms of COVID-19 and after the test, my report has come back positive. I appeal to all my colleagues that whoever came in contact with me, must get their corona test done. And my close contacts should quarantine themselves,” Chouhan said in a tweet in Hindi.

“If COVID19 is treated on time, a person is completely cured. I have been reviewing the status of corona infection every evening since March 25. I will try to review corona situation through video conferencing as much as possible now,” he added.

The chief minister said the review meeting will now be held by home minister Narottam Mishra, urban development and administration minister Bhuppendra Singh, health education minister Vishvas Sarang and health minister Dr Prabhuram Choudhary in his absence.

“I will also continue to do everything possible to help control COVID19 in the state during treatment,” he said.

One of Chouhan’s ministerial colleagues tested positive for Covid-19 late on July 22.

The chief minister along with the minister, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s state unit president VD Sharma and state unit general secretary (organisation) Suhas Bhagat had visited Lucknow in a government plane on July 21 to attend the funeral of MP governor Lalji Tandon who died away in the Uttar Pradesh capital, his hometown. during hospitalisation.

The minister is admitted to a private medical college’s teaching hospital in Bhopal.

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Kannadiga
 - 
Saturday, 25 Jul 2020

Why so priority for him. There are so many  better person here in our State and District Talk and Right about them.

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News Network
April 19,2020

New Delhi, Apr 19: With 1,334 fresh cases of coronavirus reported in the last 24 hours, the total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in India has reached 15,712 including 507 deaths, said Lav Aggarwal, Joint Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, here on Sunday.

As many as 2,231 people have recovered from the disease so far, said Aggarwal during the daily media briefing on the coronavirus. "This equals 14.1 per cent of the total cases," he added.

"A total of 15,712 confirmed cases have been reported in India including 507 deaths and 2,231 people, who were COVID-19 positive, have recovered. Out of the total deaths, 27 deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours," said Aggarwal.

The Joint Secretary said that no new case was reported in Mahe in Puducherry and Karnataka's Kodagu in the last 28 days.

"A total of 54 other districts beside these two in 23 States/Union Territories did not report any cases in the last 14 days," he said.

He informed that there are 755 dedicated COVID-19 hospitals and 1,389 dedicated health care centres in the country, which takes the total dedicated facilities where severe or critical patients can be treated to 2,144.

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News Network
July 19,2020

New Delhi, Jul 19: India's Covid-19 case fatality rate is "progressively falling" and is currently at 2.49 per cent, which is one of the lowest in the world, the Union Health Ministry said on Sunday, crediting efficient clinical management of hospitalised cases for it.

There are 29 states and union territories with a case fatality rate (CFR) lower than India's average, with five of them having a CFR of zero and 14 having fatality rate of less than 1 per cent.

The focused efforts of the Centre and state and UT governments on efficient clinical management of hospitalised cases have ensured that India's case fatality rate has fallen below 2.5 per cent, the ministry said.

With effective containment strategy, aggressive testing and standardized clinical management protocols based on holistic standard of care approach, the CFR has significantly dipped, it said.

"The CFR is progressively falling and currently, it is 2.49 per cent. India has one of the lowest fatality rates in the world," the ministry said.

From 2.82 per cent over a month earlier, India's Covid-19 case fatality rate declined to 2.72 per cent on July 10 and has further reduced to 2.49 per cent presently.

Under the guidance of the Centre, the state and UT governments have ramped up testing and hospital infrastructure by combining public and private sector efforts, the ministry said.

Many states have conducted the population surveys to map and identify the vulnerable population like the elderly, pregnant women and those with co-morbidities.

This, with the help of technological solutions like mobile apps, has ensured keeping the high-risk population under continuous observation, thus aiding early identification, timely clinical treatment and reducing fatalities, the ministry said.

"At the ground level, frontline health workers like ASHAs (Accredited Social Health Activists) and ANMs (Auxiliary Nursing Midwives) have done a commendable job of managing the migrant population and to enhance awareness at the community level.

"As a result, there are 29 States and UTs with CFR lower than India's average. This shows commendable work done by public health apparatus of the country," the ministry said.

Manipur, Nagaland, Sikkim, Mizoram, Andaman and Nicobar Islands have zero case fatality rate.

States and UTs having a CFR below the national average include Tripura (0.19 pc),  Assam (0.23 pc), Kerala (0.34 pc), Odisha (0.51 pc), Goa (0.60 pc), Himachal Pradesh (0.75 pc), Bihar (0.83 pc), Telangana (0.93 pc), Andhra Pradesh (1.31 pc), Tamil Nadu (1.45 pc), Chandigarh (1.71 pc), Rajasthan (1.94 pc), Karnataka (2.08 pc) and Uttar Pradesh (2.36 pc).

India saw a record single-day jump of 38,902 Covid-19 cases pushing its tally to 10,77,618 on Sunday, while the total number of recoveries increased to 6,77,422.

A total of 23, 672 patients have recuperated in the past 24 hours, the highest so far in a day, according to the health ministry data updated at 8 AM.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a cumulative total of 1,37,91,869 samples have been tested up to July 18 with 3,58,127 samples being tested on Saturday. 

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